By the time you read this, President Thabo Mbeki will be roaming the country’s quiet corners taking landscape photographs, and Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka will have assumed the roll of makoti — the self-effacing daughter-in-law — at her husband Bulelani Ngcuka’s family home in the rural Eastern Cape.
Arguably two of the hardest working Cabinet ministers, Mbeki and Mlambo-Ngcuka take ordinary holidays.
They were both scheduled to take 10 days’ leave — from December 22 to 31 — but their aides said when they see the word “vacation” pencilled into their bosses’ diaries, they take it with a pinch of salt.
“At this time of the year we always look at [Mbeki’s] diary with a great measure of trepidation,” said a chuckling Murphy Morobe, Mbeki’s spokesperson. “We love to see the word ‘vacation’ in his diary, but we look at it with only one eye open.”
When Mbeki eventually swaps his laptop for his camera — photography is one of his favourite pastimes — he switches off his cellphone and operates on a don’t-call-me-I’ll-call-you basis, Morobe said.
Although he could not give details about the president’s holiday destination because of security concerns, Morobe said he would spend his time “in a quiet area away from the city, where he can take photographs”.
Mbeki, a whisky connoisseur, prefers Glenfiddich, which he’ll probably sip while listening to jazz, although he enjoys “the experience of a cross-section of musical offerings”, or studying the latest photography technology on the Internet. “He’s quite adept at photographic tech-nology,” said Morobe.
Kanyo Gqulu, Mlambo-Ngcuka’s adviser, said the deputy president would most likely divide her time off between her husband’s family in the Eastern Cape and her parents’ home in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mlambo-Ngcuka dances to Barry White, Ringo Starr and Diana Ross whenever she can, cooks for her family and reads author Isabel Allende voraciously.
“Whenever she flies [on the presidential jet] she requests music that is light and a bit groovy,” said Gqulu. At her 58th birthday celebration this year, she dominated the dance floor, teaching her guests various moves. “She was singing at the top of her lungs!”
Asked whether Mbeki dances, Morobe said “he doesn’t do that”. However, he had hosted a Christmas party for the Union Buildings staff — from cleaners to managers — with the theme Sophiatown, where 1950s jazz and leather dancing shoes from the era of The Manhattan Brothers, the Gay Gaieties and The Synco Fans kept the staff jiving.
For the first time in three years, Mbeki has no engagements on New Year’s Day. But Morobe said he would be thinking about his January 8 speech, when the African National Congress launches its local election campaign.
While Mlambo-Ngcuka brews traditional beer and makes tea for her family she is also a workaholic, even on holiday. Gqulu said he was expecting a call from her at any time asking: “Won’t you be a darling and send me that memo?”